1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to medical tool carriers and particularly to medical tool carriers attached to patient's bedsides.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The medical field has become a user of many technologies. These technologies use a vast array of equipment. Devices must be brought into a patient's room and set up for use in a convenient and efficient way so that nurses and technicians can readily make use of the equipment as needed. To that end, several devices have been developed to hold various pieces of equipment in hospital rooms. Examples of these devices are found in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,585, which describes a caddie for sickroom use for storing medicine containers, thermometers, cups and the like that has a base, a back panel which supports the rear edge of a solid lower shelf, a second, upper shelf having multiple apertures formed therein which are preferably of annular cross-section having diameters slightly greater than the diameter of the standard size medication containers, but less than the diameter of the threaded caps which are placed upon the medicament containers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,152 describes a removably attachable storage organizer that hangs on the upper most surface of a hospital bed rail. Inner and outer facing panels have attached to them a plurality of pockets capable of storing a variety of personal items that a patient may have with them during a stay at the hospital. For example, a slit front surface is used for the dispensing of facial tissue and a framed front surface can be used for inserting a photograph and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,186 teaches a medical implement and tubing organizer that allows medical implements to be held in a convenient location proximate to a patient and also allows the medical tubes to be organized and ordered according to size. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,441 describes an improved medication administration system includes a series of one way valves disposed closely adjacent and in direct fluid communication with an auxiliary IV line leading to a patient. A number of syringes filled with various selected medications are each secured in a tray against axial and lateral movement by depressing them into correspondingly dimensioned longitudinal grooves. The flanges of the syringes abut a lip of the tray to further restrict axial movement. The nozzles of the syringes are connected to the inlets of the valves so that medication can be administered intravenously by simply depressing the appropriate syringe plunger.
While all of these devices are useful, they are made for either broad general purposes or extremely narrow and limited purposes (the first two cover almost anything that can be stored in a hospital room while the latter two deal exclusively with IV lines and tubes).